Epidural, but I could have done a natural birth...my contractions weren't even that bad.

Mcelweewife's post about the pressure women go through while giving birth is so true. They wanted to induce me before Christmas so that "I could be home for the holidays" *rolls eyes* They just didn't want to spend their holiday in the hospital. My son's expected due date was the 21st of Dec but a few days had already passed.

I didn't want to get induced but the doctor was saying that the longer he's in my stomach, the more problems that could occur. So I gave in.

Whichever I need. My mom had us naturally and my friends, the same. One friend makes it seem like if her mom did it, she had to, too . I get terrible migraines and can only imagine having a 5 day debilitating migraine and being in labor. No

Things that hinder productive labor and pushing are what cause these problems. Example;

Laying on the back--being strapped to all kinds of different monitoring devices *That was the worst...and when you get the epidural, you can't even move your legs to get comfortable *

Maternal exhaustion (this is due to being drugged and not being allowed to eat during labor-delivering a baby is hard work, eating and staying hydrated make a world of difference for mom's energy level) *I never understood that either...I was so thirsty. The gave me crushed ice to eat...I just waited for it to melt and then drank it *

Being poked and prodded and asked all kinds of questions while you are laboring *That was annoying too...I just wanted to be left alone*

Having strangers coming in and out of your room

Being pressured to progress and drugged if you aren't doing so at the rate the doctor would like (labor takes TIME!) a woman shouldn't feel like she is being rushed. This pressure can actually slow down dilation--a calm, RELAXED atmosphere is a must!!! This normally leads to pitocin (a synthetic hormone that speeds up contractions) being introduced and that leads to a chain reaction of more drugs/augmentation---which most times leads to an emergency c-section.

*That's true was well...they kept giving me more and more pitocin and at one point, I was stuck at 8cm dilated for TWO hours . They were going to give me an emergency C-section but luckily I dilated enough for me to push. I could feel a thing...I didn't feel the need to push, didn't feel him coming out, I still felt my contractions though so i wasn't completely pain free *

This is outrageous and the worst part is that most women don't even know they are being manipulated and taken advantage of. Many women don't care to even look into this because we have been taught from a young age that you get pregnant and whatever happens during labor is beyond your control and the doc is to be trusted to take care of everything.

* So true. I thought the doctor would know more about having a baby than I would since it was my first child. All I did was read baby books and go to parenting classes. *

Things that hinder productive labor and pushing are what cause these problems. Example;

Laying on the back--being strapped to all kinds of different monitoring devices *That was the worst...and when you get the epidural, you can't even move your legs to get comfortable *

Maternal exhaustion (this is due to being drugged and not being allowed to eat during labor-delivering a baby is hard work, eating and staying hydrated make a world of difference for mom's energy level) *I never understood that either...I was so thirsty. The gave me crushed ice to eat...I just waited for it to melt and then drank it *

Being poked and prodded and asked all kinds of questions while you are laboring *That was annoying too...I just wanted to be left alone*

Having strangers coming in and out of your room

Being pressured to progress and drugged if you aren't doing so at the rate the doctor would like (labor takes TIME!) a woman shouldn't feel like she is being rushed. This pressure can actually slow down dilation--a calm, RELAXED atmosphere is a must!!! This normally leads to pitocin (a synthetic hormone that speeds up contractions) being introduced and that leads to a chain reaction of more drugs/augmentation---which most times leads to an emergency c-section.

*That's true was well...they kept giving me more and more pitocin and at one point, I was stuck at 8cm dilated for TWO hours . They were going to give me an emergency C-section but luckily I dilated enough for me to push. I could feel a thing...I didn't feel the need to push, didn't feel him coming out, I still felt my contractions though so i wasn't completely pain free *

This is outrageous and the worst part is that most women don't even know they are being manipulated and taken advantage of. Many women don't care to even look into this because we have been taught from a young age that you get pregnant and whatever happens during labor is beyond your control and the doc is to be trusted to take care of everything.

* So true. I thought the doctor would know more about having a baby than I would since it was my first child. All I did was read baby books and go to parenting classes. *

Thank you for sharing your experience Sweetnstuff!! I am glad you avoided a section!!

That's more than what most women do! I read ALL of the "what to expect books" (4)--two summers ago.

NONE of them prepared me the way Ina Gaskin's book on birthing did. It's incredible and takes away anxiety! Having support from my midwife and doula has made a difference as well. My appointments with my midwife are an hour plus, so ALL of my questions are thoroughly answered and then some. Not to mention unlike with my back up OBGYN I can call her whenever I want with questions or concerns. This is WAAAYYYY better than the maternity care I had with my 1st pregnancy. My midwife has become a great friend <3 She offers her services until I am 6 weeks post partum and she will be able to weigh the baby once I deliver, give him his apgar test, his vitamin k shot and draw up his birth certificate in the privacy of my home....this is AFTER I get to hold him and nurse him for an hour. The cord will be cut once it stops pulsing which will supply oxygen and blood to baby without it being abruptly cut off.

I read that home births & birth center births attended by midwives were up 10% here in the states as of 2011. Hopefully that number increases.

I am so excited about getting to hold my little dude right away instead of having him whisked off and roughly handled outside of my line of vision. Has anyone noticed how roughly the nurses handle newborns when they clean them? geesh.

i think i want to do a c-section. but im scared man..what my kids hit me with a ball in the stomach while im trying to heal? it hurts already just thinkin about it. but im so over vaginal delievery. i cant do all that pushing stuff. lol

I've never had a vaginal delivery, so I can't say which is better. But if you are lucky to be eligible for a vaginal delivery, have it! C-sections are serious abdominal surgery and the healing time after that is very long. When you come home from the hospital and that pain hit you, it's crazy! Plus, it leaves scare tissue and can (kinda) make losing he weight or extra fat around that section of the stomach harbecause of the surgery. My son is 2.5 anmyincision still itches sometime. For our next child, I would like a VBAC, but since a VBAC has risk, a lot of doctors advice against it. But I don't want to be cut open again.

Honestly, I didn't have pain for long. The worse of my pain was during the three days in the hospital, but that was mostly because they waited until the third day to give me a stomach binder. The pain for me mostly came from my insides feeling loose when I moved, even with the morphine drip. All that did was make me drowsy.

But after i left the hospital, and put on a tighter waist binder, I felt so much better. They prescribed me with Percocet, so I took those for the first week home. I was able to get up and move around just fine, carry my baby, and by the second week home I felt normal again, with just a few aches ever so often. My scar is practically already healed, its small and barely noticeable.

Im 3 weeks post partum, and lost my baby weight already...including in the abs. I only gained 25lbs during my pregnancy though. My waist compressor helped a lot, plus breastfeeding also helps with weight loss. I'm still losing and haven't even started my diet lol.

Overall, my healing process wasn't nearly as bad as ppl said it would be, and I'm thankful for that!

i think i want to do a c-section. but im scared man..what my kids hit me with a ball in the stomach while im trying to heal? it hurts already just thinkin about it. but im so over vaginal delievery. i cant do all that pushing stuff. lol

I've never had a vaginal delivery, so I can't say which is better. But if you are lucky to be eligible for a vaginal delivery, have it! C-sections are serious abdominal surgery and the healing time after that is very long. When you come home from the hospital and that pain hit you, it's crazy! Plus, it leaves scare tissue and can (kinda) make losing he weight or extra fat around that section of the stomach harbecause of the surgery. My son is 2.5 anmyincision still itches sometime. For our next child, I would like a VBAC, but since a VBAC has risk, a lot of doctors advice against it. But I don't want to be cut open again.

Honestly, I didn't have pain for long. The worse of my pain was during the three days in the hospital, but that was mostly because they waited until the third day to give me a stomach binder. The pain for me mostly came from my insides feeling loose when I moved, even with the morphine drip. All that did was make me drowsy.

But after i left the hospital, and put on a tighter waist binder, I felt so much better. They prescribed me with Percocet, so I took those for the first week home. I was able to get up and move around just fine, carry my baby, and by the second week home I felt normal again, with just a few aches ever so often. My scar is practically already healed, its small and barely noticeable.

Im 3 weeks post partum, and lost my baby weight already...including in the abs. I only gained 25lbs during my pregnancy though. My waist compressor helped a lot, plus breastfeeding also helps with weight loss. I'm still losing and haven't even started my diet lol.

Overall, my healing process wasn't nearly as bad as ppl said it would be, and I'm thankful for that!

Wow! that was a good experience! I had to stop taking the Percocet the second week in after an incident
where I fell asleep trying to nurse my baby. When I woke up, he was
stuck between the couch cushions upside down fighting to breath. I
guess I'm really sensitive to pain medication. After that, I had to
grin and bear it because the Percocet was a little too strong even
though they helped with the pain. I wasn't successful with breastfeeding

The cord will be cut once it stops pulsing which will supply oxygen and blood to baby without it being abruptly cut off.

=====================

Yes!! if you saw my pic yesterday, the cord was still attached. I planned on keeping it attached for a while so I'm kind of glad, dh delivered her instead of my obgyn

Unfortunately I missed out, but that delivery sounded awesome.My mom said of the 7 labors she had number 4 was her easiest. My brother came before she made it to the hospital and she had my bro at home, my dad caught him. This by the way, was the same brother who was not circumcised. She said she was in the middle of imitation of life when her water broke and she refused to leave until it went off. By the time it did the contractions started to kick her butt, so she took a hot shower on her way to the hospital. She never made it. The ambulance came and took her once my little bro was delivered. Of course they showed up right after --they let my dad cut the cord. To this day my dad still talks about it, he is so proud of that.

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